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Description

This is a great apron of stellar, alpine granite that allows routes just about anywhere you want. It's a great, bite-sized, alpine romp. It takes 30-35 minute jaunt to the base from Summit Lake. There can be a bit of snow at the base. Expect to pay if you arrive after 7am at the toll booth. Note, it is an alpine route with all sorts of objective hazards, so be prepared.

This is the yellow line in the beta photo to the right.

P1. This line followed a right-angling crack/dihedral at the right end of this face 5.6 s to a big ledge.

P2. Go left to a left-facing dihedral. Not much pro but carefully stand of various clods of dirt between jams, then up and left to a corner, 160 feet.

P3. Go up a 5.7 corner to a left-leaning groove, up and traverse left. Go up to the edge of a higher panel and up 25 feet to an angling ramp, 160 feet.

P4. Go up a groove left to a right-angling crack, traverse left at a ledge to a thin crack, go up, traverse left to a ledge/slot, 160 feet. #4 Friend useful for belay.

P5. Angle generally left to broken terrain, fire up a 5.4 slot to a small ledge and dihedral, 160 feet.

P6. Climb 25 feet more get you to the top.

Descent: walk off right past the 3rd Apron or traverse left to the parking lot at the top to hitch a ride down. Watch out for electrical storms.

Add: for what it is worth, we climbed this back when 50m ropes were as long as we had.

Protection

Wires, a few larger hexes, a set of cams to #4 Friend, helmet, a smile. Note, the above description predated owning a 60m rope.

Comment Type:

This climb has good rock and position, but is more of 5.4 than a 5.7. We took too much gear, mostly placed Aliens, nuts and a big 3-4 Camalot with not much needed in between. At the top, we did a fun hand traverse under a roof right along the right edge that then turned into pretty fun exposed slab for 15 feet to a great roof. By doing these couple moves we made it 5.7. Really fun though. Oh, we got to the pay booth at 7 am and were charged $10- so they are there earlier than 7:45....
Aug 18, 2002

I'd agree this isn't 5.7 - probably 5.5 is a reasonable rating. I would also agree that Aliens and lots of stoppers protect this well - I never would have needed the larger cams I brought, maybe bring a 1 and 2 Camalot but nothing bigger.

The rock quality is a little suspect in places. Lots of hollow rock, loose flakes, and rocks on ledges everywhere. Be careful what you pull on and more importantly where you place gear, and be careful if someone is climbing under you.
Aug 19, 2002

Thanks for drawing the topo, Leo. Looks like I did a different line, which basically followed the very prominent dihedral system to the right of the right side route (I thought the right side route was the center route). That may explain why I never found a move of 5.7 and was climbing through a few very large loose flakes.
Aug 21, 2002

Yeah, I was off the line too! the pic helps - thanks [Leo]! There is another question mark shaped crack just left of the right side line that confused me into this route. Next time I'll get on route. The right line described by Leo actually jived quite well with the climbing, except for the grade. A fixed sling and some other climbing trash (tape, drink cap) led me to believe I was on route. If you do follow the big corner, it's fun and easy and there are some convoluted boulder problems at the top.
Aug 23, 2002

Absolutely awesome, stellar, spectacular climb and, on a clear Saturday morning, we had the entire area to ourselves. Routefinding was no problem, thanks to Leo's posted picture. Protection was adequate, although some of the easier sections felt slightly runout. There were only a few moves that felt 5.7. Not to be missed: about 400 ft. up, very near the right edge of the face, there was a wonderful traverse left on good holds and great gear. Delicious. We did the route in three long (200 ft.) pitches, with an additional 50 ft. of 5.4 to the big ledge at the top. Walkoff to the left was no problem, following a grassy ledge. There's still a fair amount of snow at the base. mike.
Jul 21, 2003

Terrific route, and a very helpful picture. Many lines are possible here; this was ours: P1 goes to below the "M," on the right side. P2 heads right and stops at the top of a 40 foot or so R facing dihedral. P3 heads L and makes the big, obvious traverse and anchors perhaps 20 feet above this mini roof. P4 stretches it out 195' and ends at a huge rock garden. You are basically done. "Pitch 5" is easy scrambling up, about 140 feet.

All pitches are well over 100 feet. Some flaring cracks, some mossy stuff, but overall good pro.

We used from 00 TCU to #4 Camalot; small tricams; double sets of med - big stoppers. Would leave the #4 behind next time.

This really defines choose your own adventure climbing. Just start climbing, and follow whatever features tickle your fancy. There are many vertical, horizontal, and diagonal cracks. Overall, the rock is very solid and the pro is more than sufficient. I thought it was 5.5-5.6 and does not deserve an "s" rating. Goood fun.
Jul 11, 2005

My partner and I were trying to climb the center route but ended up on I think 3 different routes. We started out below a fixed L.A. (I think) to the right of the center 5.7 route but to the left of the right 5.7 route (I [believe] it was marked in red on the pic.) Anyway, climbed to the piton with no gear, pulled the old sling and used my own (for the meanwhile), and continued over the roof to the right slightly, it seemed pretty tricky for 5.7 (we felt it was about 5.9 due to the slabby nature and no hand holds) we then found [ourselves] on the right 5.7 route for the next [pitch and] a half. Then, we worked over slightly left up a funky crackless crack like feature up to a roof for a slightly hanging belay. After this we worked over the roof by means of a hand to fist sized crack, and [straight] up a bit further until working into the 5.5 dihedral on the right. we belayed until running out of rope then proceded to simultaneously climb to the top. The route was great, but I wish I had a picture at the start of the route so I wasn't so off line. I also wish I had pics of the route, but oh well. Hope this information helps someone. What is that "red marked" route on the pic with the fixed pin? Does anyone know?
Jul 30, 2005

In answer to your question, the red lines I drew in were wanderings we took trying to figure out where we wanted to climb on various attempts. Allen got to that pin and backed off due to the holdless nature of the route. Perhaps, it was his sling. The other red line I backed off as I decided it was too risky with how far along my wife was at that time. Sorry if it was not obvious from the topo.
Jul 31, 2005

We climbed this route on 8-24-05 in near-perfect conditions. There are all kinds of variations all over the face. There is heavy lichen in some places, but overall the rock quality is excellent. If you stick to the most featured lines of least resistance, it probably goes at about 5.5 and is easily protected with small to medium gear (up to about 2"). You can find 5.7 to 5.8 moves, however, and I chose to run it out quite a bit over some of the easier terrain.

We did it in four pitches all over 175 feet (simulclimbed 10 feet or so on P2) with 100 feet of scrambling to the top after P4.

It had snowed on 8-13-05 and many of the lower, more wind protected ledges were still snow covered. The first belay would have made for very cold and wet feet in rock shoes so I chose a different, more sloping ledge slightly to the west...a little less comfortable, but dry.

Went for a repeat today. I was the AC July 30 2005, this time I started on route, one crack right for the flake in the pic, found someone left a 4 BD stopper. I thought it was fixed, but my partner pulled it. Weather has shut me down 2 times now up higher on the route, this time it was fog, hail, and sprinkles of rain. I took the 5.5 for about 40 feet while it stormed on me then wandered back left when it let up. I feel cheated once again, I guess I will have to get an earlier start on this one for now on. I think I am going to try to climb this once a year, but we'll see once my skillz progress.
Aug 13, 2006

This route is slabby, and in places run-out. There are a few trickier moves up thin grooves and lay-backs with far-enough pro that a 5.4 leader would be terrified. So, while I agree with Shad that this is not sustained 5.7, make sure you can lead 5.7 granite before heading up this climb. 5 pitches, no need for cams above #1, bring a lot of small cams, Aliens, and medium nuts.
Aug 16, 2006

I personally used a #2 Camalot quite a bit, even made use of my 3 and 4, I believe. The route has a lot of options, and I feel if you were in over your head, you could get on the 5.5 (although it is junk). Also, I have done it in 3 pitches always simultanious-climbing the last 200 or so feet; however, I am always on the 5.5 for the last 200 feet, so far, as well.
Aug 16, 2006

Climbed this route or a rough approximation of it today; 8/24/08, a really awesome and fun climb, there was a decent bit of snow and ice in places on the first pitch thanks to a recent storm, but other than that I thought the conditions were great. We climbed this in 4 pitches running out a 70 meter rope almost to the end on each pitch; I figured maybe 850 feet of roped climbing all in all. I brought a moderate rack small C3s through a #4 Camalot with some bigger hexes and found than other than setting up a few belays I hardly used the bigger pieces, maybe just the route we took. Rock quality was fairly good; stay out of the tempting but grungy dihedral/left-facing corner on the far right; it doesn't get much sun and is mossy/icy/chossy. I thought the pro was pretty good as well; def. be comfortable with decent runouts on 5.7/5.8-ish slabby terrain though, this is kinda one of those "climb anywhere" routes to a degree, assuming your comfortable with the runouts and creative with gear. Was also very surprised to find an ancient webbing rat's nest about 1/2 way up our line, at a point I surely thought we were off route haha.... Highly Recommended Climb; this is a wicked fun route on a classic 14er nonetheless!!
Aug 24, 2008

Climbed this in two parties of two yesterday (7/17/09). My partner and I traversed into the first pitch from a ledge approx 60 feet up and 30 feet right of the standard start described ("a right-angling crack/dihedral). This avoided a belay in the snow and moves that the other party described as "much harder than 5.6s". Our groups completed the remainder of the route more or less together and more or less as described. We experienced a few minor runout sections on rock easier than 5.6. There really are a variety of wonderful possibilities - most that can easily be done with moves not exceeding 5.7-. Lots of wonderful lichen to see, which really didn't make the climbing much more difficult. There was also some loose rock at a belay ledge or two. Just keep your ropes and feet off of it.
Jul 18, 2009

If you stay on route, there are two 5.7 sections, the flake off the ground and the dihedral after the 2nd belay. We added a 5.8 crack to a small roof on p3 by straying a bit toward the center of the face. Ample gear throughout and super fun. Watch out for ice falling on your dome when its windy.
Aug 2, 2009

Fun times! This really is choose your own adventure climbing. Be ready for some runouts, but generally excellent pro when you get it. Also agreed that most of the climbing is 5.4ish, with a touch of 5.7 here and there.

FYI: We did this in 3 pitches with a 70m rope, running the rope out pretty much each time. That got us to the big ledge at the top, and we 3rd classed the last 50 feet to the ridge.
Aug 24, 2009

What a blast. I think the best part about this area is that so many 5.5-5.7 variations are possible, you don't really need to worry about being on any previously established "route." Fun, a little runout in spots, but a great half-day, accessible alpine adventure.
Jul 11, 2010

Climbed this yesterday. I'd say, without a doubt, that the first 30 feet are the crux, especially for a new trad leader. The right-angling crack is flaring and shallow with awkward placements and very few hands, if any, on the slab above. I'd call it awkward 5.7. Following this, we stayed in the lesser right-facing corner/gully (to the left of the very obvious, large right-facing corner) following the path of least resistance to the top. Nothing harder than 5.4 and other than a lot of rotten rock, very easy placements and easy cruising climbing.

Also, from the top-out, there's about 20 minutes of hiking to the summit parking lot. Head left toward the summit, drop off the backside to the right (as you're facing the summit) and find the cairned trail. Nothing hard, just unexpected. Have fun, great route!
Jun 23, 2013

Awesome place, once you leave the lot, only a few people venture up there. It has been a very wet Colorado season especially in EVG, so we have delayed trying this route until it dried up a little. Labor day was the last day of the year before road closed so we gave it a shot, even though Evans had snow earlier this week. Approach is 50 minutes, unless you have superhero talus hopping abilities or compare yourself to a young Peter Croft.

Route is easy to find and we completed most of first pitch before the verglas and snow starting getting to us. Clear day, but the wind was brutal also. Kudos to the team in the right dihedral ahead of us for having down jackets; I think they topped out.

We traversed over to the dihedral only to find more snow, verglas and the wind just got worse. We gave the third pitch a go, but after more ice and high winds, we opted to join the party beneath us and bailed via rappel.

Very wet route, lots of seeps and cold!!!! We will be back next year and we will bring the puffy jackets. Met some cool people, and it is always beautiful there until you get back to the masses at Summit Lake.... Maybe next year....
Sep 2, 2014

Great route! Left Summit Lake yesterday around 11:10am and topped out Mt. Evans by 5:15pm. Climb was pretty straightforward (thanks to the beta photo), and we did it in 4 pitches with a 70m rope. A great alpine climb with limited approach, fun crack systems, and an easy ridgeline traverse to summit. Met some great people on the summit and saw goats and bighorn sheep on the way down. One thing about the route: does not get much travel, so there was significant build-up of dirt, grass, and snow in the cracks. Made things a bit more interesting, and parties should be mindful of this fact when considering its '5.7' rating.
Sep 21, 2015

Climbed this yesterday and gave it a 5.7 PG-13 rating for this reason: bring plenty of small cams/nuts and even some offset micronuts. While I only led P1, I found that smaller gear, esp. offset nuts, to be very helpful to adequately protect this climb between chunks of grass/moss/dirt and flared cracks. I would be wary of the 5.7 rating without such gear and be ready for a few runout spots. Regarding the descent: don't go climber's right into any of the seemingly easy chossy gulliess. We ending up rapping down off of a slung boulder after having our fill of choss, then scrambled a bit to just above the lake. Head left at the top, and proceed to the summit to enjoy a better descent.
Jul 31, 2016

4 pitches with a 60m. It is in no way PG-13. You just need a standard rack, if you want to stretch it another set of 0.1-0.4 cams are helpful. Even on the 1st pitch you can get good gear in when you need it.

Conditions as of June 29 2017: there is about 60 feet of packed snow across the base, but otherwise it is good to go.

I climbed this route with my buddy Matt on June 29 2017. Here's some conditions and route beta that we wanted to share:

Camped at Echo Lake, started approach hike at 5:30am, wasn't rushing, and it took exactly an hour.

Cut in after the "Denver fee area" sign as noted by others. Saw no obvious trail, followed path of least resistance heading slightly up and right taking care to rock hop and not trample on the flowers and grass too much. We encountered about 60 feet of snowpack at base of 2nd Apron, a combination of icy hard pack and some softer snow. Wish we had spikes or an ice tool but made it over ok, using a jagged rock to help balance. Slippery in approach shoes!

First pitch was the hardest - felt like a few 5.9 moves but might have not been on easiest course. We started on the flake as others have and followed what seemed to be the path of least resistance and best pro to the next belay. Lots of lichen made for tricky feet. About 70 feet up there was a traverse out right that was the crux of the entire route. Found solid belay underneath the obvious large M feature.

Second pitch angled out right on 5.6 terrain, on mossy steps that were good. Lots of decent face holds. Should have taken the second belay another 30 feet higher to the next bulge.

Third pitch I went through an obvious notch that had chalk on it slightly to the right and up; however, I think this led us off route and put us into about 120 feet of choss with big holds on 5.4 terrain but terrible rock.

Fourth pitch we traversed back left on decent holds when the angling rock on the left broke down to regain the route proper. This pitch was really fun 5.6. Used all of a 70m and almost made it to the top.

Belayed for the last 25 feet to gain the top, hiked climber's left for 30 minutes to the Mt. Evans summit and got a ride down from some dudes from Atlanta. There is a hiker's trail up and over the ridge marked by cairns in case you need to make a speedy escape.

Topped out on climb at 12:30pm. The first two pitches we were slow but then started to stretch the rope for 3-4 to make up time and were fine.

Great, super fun route; minimal approach; minimal people climbing; amazing, priceless views; grade A, multipitch alpine route; low angle climbing with a few steep sections of 5.7 to add some nice climbing moves; felt very alpine with the views and rock hopping; pick your own trail up to the apron; and only snow is tiny bit at base easy to go around and still start the climb at the at the beautiful groove. Nice in the sun but still chilly, really chilly with the wind, storms didn't come until 3ish, be prepared, did on a Sat, saw no one climbing.

If you find my Breck facemask, I'd really appreciate to get it back. Matt 4439008741. Small reimbursement, pretty sure it's couple hundred feet from the base.

Also lost a silver size 3 DMM, Walnut along the climb somehow, someway.
Aug 12, 2017

We brought a full set of cams with doubles in 1 and 2. Also used lots of stoppers and hexes. Did place a 3, though not necessary. Overall the couple extra cams and bits of pro were fun to toy with the varied placements throughout. P1 up to the right bottom of the M, P2 stretched the rope ~210' to a nice wind-protected corner with good anchor placements, P3 went directly through the good fist crack in the small roof and and anchored below a small roof/boulder with an easy ramp heading left to a heavily featured 5.4ish-looking dihedral, and P4 climbed right side of boulder/roof to a nice but short 5.7 ish hand crack to another roof with a little ice on some holds/placements. Wandered up and left zigzagging until a gigantic bivy ledge. We simuled/soloed a bit to the top from there, maybe 100' or so. Wind is cold, and the marmots are sketchy. One picked up our rope between me and my partner looking intrigued, then began kicking down baseball-size rocks from above! I'd say this is a great alpine intro route.
Jun 27, 2018